Wimbledon - a league club once again

22/05/2011

In a world where corruption reigns, the little man gets stomped on and the wealthy accumulate more and more of that lovely money, it’s heartening to see a story that shows just how much people can do when they work together. AFC Wimbledon were promoted to the football league yesterday, after a thrilling play-off final with Luton Town, which they won on penalties.

Next season will be the first time that the club will play in the football league since its league place was stolen from them by the FA and what became MK Dons, bringing them ever closer to the dreaded match with Franchise FC, the boil on the backside of football. Despite the moral rightness of Wimbledon’s victory, Luton can consider themselves extremely hard done by, as they missed a host of chances to win the game in normal time, and had a stonewall penalty turned down in the process. However not even Luton fans, themselves the owners of their club can’t have begrudged the real Dons their achievement.

It has only taken Wimbledon nine years since their rebirth in the Combined Counties league to return to the league, and three of their five promotions have come in the last four seasons, in which Terry Brown has been in charge.

‘This is a phenomenal achievement,’ the Wimbledon manager said. ‘We've done it in nine years but could have done it quicker with proper finance from a multimillionaire. Instead the club has been driven on by pure fan power. We have 35 volunteers who do every job around the club. We look after them and they look after us. That ethos won't change now we're in League Two, when we'll have the smallest wage bill in the division by a mile. But that is what Wimbledon has always been about; being the underdog and fighting for everything they can get.’